Lessons

Lesson Info

1:30 pm - Sales Consultation

why also what I want to sell smaller upfront I want you to think about it why would I want to sell smaller anybody by what I have to give the catering hall commissioner so if I sell big or what is the catering hall get more off yeah if you sell in the back and just a catering hall get that commission so I sell down because I want to get the job because I'm saving myself sometimes a hundred dollars I know that if a parent wants an album they're gonna buy it well even contact the parents about it so now I sit besides that we're going to give you one big wall portrait of twenty by twenty war portrait which is completely unique I'm going to give you an eleven by eleven war porch and I'm going to give you eight by eight for the parents I'm going to give you five by five for every member of the bridal party how many guests you having two hundred oh well I'm going to give you one hundred twenty five photo greeting cards I get the most beautiful greeting cards from bay photo go from there get ...

them they have my logo on the back besides that I'm going to give you the best and most important I think a couple of them you know how everybody sending out save the dates now I'm going to give you one hundred twenty five save the dates is well that should be enough for two hundred fifty people is couples or two hundred with some singles what what's on that my loga that's their engagement portrait that's advertising isn't it they're paying toe advertise may well thank you that's a great gift now here's the best thing that we're going to give you the best thing I know everybody today loves to give you a dvd of your images but what photographers aren't telling you is very unfair you're not really getting much of a deal the reason why is very very simple the images once edited and corrected are all set up and edited and corrected to the photographers lab to their monitors and what's gonna happen is you're going to take them somewhere and try and print them you're probably going to spend coast double the money and we'll never look right so I want to produce the perfect albums and everything for you now will I give you the files of course I will but I'll explain how it's gonna work first and foremost here's the biggest thing that separates us we edit and re touch every single image to perfection every image we take is edited that could include bags under the eyes whitened teeth whitening eyes removing any type of act near imperfection if you say that my arm looks a little in perfect and you'd like me to do a little bit of a tuck it's all included at no charge because we want you to feel like the super model that you are now even better we're going to give you all off your proofs in an album that's right an album paper an album I want you to be able to carry these around and show everybody so we're gonna give you five by five proofs you're going tohave it could be anywhere from five hundred to whatever the more you party the more you dance the more we shoot and they all come in a leather album completely retouched now even better when you pick up your proofs I'm going to give you all the low res files if you don't know what that means I'm going to rest them down so that you could put them on any social media device whether it be google plus whether it be facebook you could tweet them whenever you want to dio this way you could show everybody how much you like your photos then after you pick up your albums you're going to get six months after you pick up your albums you're going to get all your high rise files how many people do you think called me six months after they pick up their album to get their files and when they ask why can't I have them right away well to be honest it's very simple our images a copyrighted now once I give them over to you you now on the copyright which means every time I have to make something for you I have to go and get a copyright release I want to produce your order to perfection before ever do it on a reason I'm waiting is once everything's all said and done I want to make sure it's all perfect there's no problems because every one of our products have a lifetime guarantee on and I want to make sure it's perfect so like I told you your files they aren't really a gift it's more of a distraction because when people get them I hear that they just stick them in a closet make them a screen saver my work was never meant to be a screen saver I promise you ansel adams never said I hope one day that my computers my images flash on someone's iphone promise it's about taking control notice my demeanor very upfront very casual is there anything I said that would ever make you think I'm trying to sell you do I have salesman written all over me no because people trust may give you a number this is in no way shape b s and you could check with anybody my studio at one point I had sold one hundred and eighty one straight weddings without one walking out the door my cells percentage is over ninety seven percent ninety per seven percent ofwhat walks through the door books why am I able to sell so high because of honesty taking the time to connect with them and making them feel important right away I have them sold I haven't even got to the price yet questions yes your proofs is it just like a proof book or I buy five proofs thanks spiral and there's a company I used called md e m d it's india park new yorker around there it makes the proof pages in the albums the proof pages in the albums I put them in and we slide them in manually like that's one of the jobs that our interns do when I think it's one of the most valuable jobs that could do because they get to look at the images and over and over and over and copy I make proofs the same exact way you saw so how much page each five by five is one in each five by five is one image too on a page in an old plastic buck people love them to carry him everywhere and it has our name on all of them okay lady story have anything ringing it always so we have a guest in the charm that says I love my quiet moments but when working with clients I tend to adapt according to the client do you change your approach according to the client's personality of course ideo obviously I'm a little bit more refined here those of you who sat with me after the break during the breaks now I'm a little bit more boisterous and things like that I like to have fun I will adapt that according to the clients if I'm dealing with different ethnicities obviously I have to no about their backgrounds and what they're doing they know how to respect them properly if I'm dealing with a jewish family I'm going to react differently because most jewish weddings upbringing in the bridegroom and their parents to work with this so I'm going to give my sales pitch towards the parents and different things what I take that same approach of excluding parent albums of the parents were there probably not from dealing with indian clients I'm going to react differently but I'm talking to them understanding that they have different needs because of their ethnicities so one of the best things you could do is a sales person is adapt yourself to the style and the personality of the person that's what sales is about I like that sherry said wow doug is very refreshing a nice honest approach way to go doc go so let's get to the money portion one of the most important things that you khun dio as a photographer not a photographer as a sales person it should you have your price is memorized you should know exactly what everything is and should have them memorized this way you can make your decisions accordingly so what does that mean I'm goingto focus mohr on anything else making sure that I know exactly what I want to accomplish and know the direction I'm going I set my budget aside so whatever the collection works out to bay before I even get to the price I remind them off all the different things that I'm giving them in terms of benefits outside to photography first and foremost before I give you a price I want to tell you some of the different things they like to talk to you about our payment schedule our payment schedule works and thirds it's usually a third on retainer one third one month prior before one we're going to go over everything an ultra full detail and talk about all the great things and really go over times and really finalized everything on your final third after the wedding when you pick up your proofs now here is the best thing with our payments you could pay any payment at any time by any method check charge whatever is most convenient for you at the time of payment now what I remind you is that before I give you anything I want to talk to you about some of the other exceptional things that we do so our delivery times are exceptional are proofs are generally delivered within a week two two weeks of the wedding our albums that generally delivered within twelve to sixteen weeks another reason I love pilot imaging so much because if you're delivering arms and twelve to sixteen weeks to be honest with you we don't deliver twelve to sixteen weeks right now we're in about six to eight weeks from the time they're ordered the album's air completed that designed and in the people's hands so now what we dio is arms delivered in twelve to sixteen weeks but I want to let you know sometimes that varies what happens is after you pick out all your proofs were going to go and we're going to make a design for you now here's the great thing you can change and make adjustments too design if you want we're kind of at the mercy of the images you pick so what happens is when you look at the design if you love it the design I'll come to you about a week to two weeks after you pick if you love it your album will be done in about four weeks and eighty percent of the people love it and it's perfect but then there's about another twenty percent of the people who have issues I'll be honest with you I don't mean negative issues I mean they may not like something so what happens is we're having problems understanding what their thought process is of what they want if it could even be done so then it tends to take a little bit longer but I want you to know there were always going to make it perfect for you very honest and up front that's why a reputation is the way it is so with everything you have a lifetime guarantee that's important to know how matter whether it's albums prince frames or whatever maybe so with all of that being said before I give you the price I wanna remind you there are things that are higher there are things that are lower in the event you'd liketo vomit do it outside the room on the tile will clean up and start all over again ok with everything you're looking at you'd be in a total price of x number of dollars the only heir to charge you do have his tax now remember there are things higher ther things lower why do I step back I have stepped back to let them know I'm confident I'm very very confident right now this is it so if I see this this is where you have to make your move and know how to read people you know what I'm going to give you guys a couple of minutes to bond I'll be right back I'm walking out I go in the back I watched him on surveillance and listen to their conversations no just I'm just kidding but let me ask you when they make that look at each other did I saw the wedding on uhf it's when they don't make that look that you have to know that you have to push further the fact is when they look at each other and they don't know how to react I've sold it I've won now why is it important to recognize that because you can recognize how hard you have to push at the end it's very simple if they're looking at each other and he's like well thank you very much and uh is there anything else we should know that I know I got to go back at work but most times do you think I have to go back to work now I haven't even told them how wonderful I am yet I haven't I hold that in the end all of my accomplishments I hold until the end I keep that bullet in the chamber why would I do that why would I tell them right away because if I tell him right away it's arrogant if I tell them at the end it's confidence there's a difference you announced that in the beginning on the personality on the guy then I'll bring out by the way do you know who I am you know what do I mean it that way no but what I'm letting him know is that my accomplishments will definitely separate me from the other people on my staff will separate me again it's confidence now the key to all of this is what happens when you walk back in that room how you handle it is going to make all the difference in the world questions from you guys I'm sorry to keep going questions I is anything bringing up here people don't really have questions can you tell us what your spiel is the who you are well thanks then what I'm going to go through if I was gonna go through the spiel tell them a little bit about myself what it would be is be like in case you're wondering and and knowing about my staff to separate me from certain people to give you a little background on myself on thirty nine years old uh at this point I photograph slightly over thirty six hundred weddings uh to give you an idea I hold a craftsman's degree as well as eight levels of master's degrees and photography from the various professional organizations I've election and taught at this point in over fifty cities in the united states as well as twenty two countries around the world I was head of photography for carnival cruise line for two years to help get there their ship running and all their new set ups to give you a little bit of an idea I'm one of only five wedding photographers in the world to ever be honored at the united nations would a leadership award his wedding in portrait photographer of the world this past year I was voted the top educator at wedding perform wedding and portrait photographers international that was the inaugural award that was given to me it was a very big moment in my life but the thing that I really pride assan as a company we have been voted one island's best photographer and videographer for the past several years we are wedding wires highest rated vendor att a four point nine reading with over one hundred eighty reviews were the highest rated for that amount of type of us four point nine out of five so I have an almost perfect wedding well nine on weddings dot com has chosen us as one of the best of vendors the knot has chosen us as one of the best of benders we have one in everything I pried us on the fact that twenty seven years of business we've never been sued we work our hardest to make sure that we satisfy ourselves what's even better is that twenty seven years I've never had a client walk out unhappy you may walk in and unhappy at certain times but I promise you I will not sleep until I make sure you're happy so that not everything can go perfect but I'm always gonna work hard to make sure it does and when you say I promise you I won't sleep until you're happy I believe that I won't because again I can't tell you how seriously take it they waited their whole life for what we're going to dio you're the most important job in the world I don't think people realize it and I'll talk about at the end because I don't want to get too emotional but something occurred yesterday again that made me realize how important the job is nothing to do with may and if you're a photographer you could probably figure it out I might as well go into it now um and I don't want to be a downer here but if you're in a photography community you may have heard of this wonderful young lady her name is jen burgess thompson on about a year and a half ago little bit less than that she was struck with ovarian cancer now varying cancer tends to be one of the more curable ones unless it's court in the late stages now lots of people get cancer go through but what separated har was that in a small community to gentlemen from bend oregon very dear friends a general by the name of kevin ca botha who you won't know and another one by the name of ben edwards documented this fight in the most intriguing video that you could ever imagine to see hard this single mom with these two boys if you look it up on facebook the video yesterday had over sixty six thousand hit she passed away yesterday morning on dh photographers were just it's sending chills now throw it in if you know the story you'll know why I was never so intrigued by something and I think I connected to this person I didn't know based on the images and a video of the kevin and benjamin took they were just off the grid you were sucked into this woman's life she's no different than anybody else but these pictures and what they created just took it to a whole nother level if you can look it's just did anybody here see it the video it's just just say it's unbelievable it's absolutely unbelievable and she passed yesterday and I'm sitting in my hotel room when I find out with tears streaming down my face never knew her but it was because of the images life lives long after we're gone the subject's gone or anybody else based on your images you want to make people happy that's why you do this sorry didn't mean to break it down or should I go back to the next part well I put everybody down at night and I just there's not really any relevant questions at the moment okay good to this topic all right so let's finish up the sale let's finish up the sail how do we finish the sale what's important to finish himself walking back inside that room is going to determine whether or not you walk out with the money you have to go in with the mind set off this is mine do you walk in and say what do you think I don't think so you walk in and say what you walk in and say city guys have any idea when you gonna make a decision ah well it's going to be within a week or two probably have a couple more places to go ok I would just like to let you know uh no problem what I can tell you is that the price will never go up unfortunately availability may change in the event that we book I'd be happy to recommend you to someone else now unfortunately there gonna be more traditional will be more money but I just want to make you aware of that because you know I know things like that happen all the time well what do you mean can we hold the date without leaving a retainer unfortunately not issue could tell there's a lot of people always coming in and outside of our building we do over a thousand weddings a year on we need teo we don't want you to book us if you don't really want us and we don't want someone to risk not having us if they really want us because you booked so we want to make sure that our client's books why can't hold the date without a retainer unfortunately well what are the odds you're gonna book I got to be honest with you we have people walking in every day and calling all the time and the fact is we're doing wedding showcases and bridal expos all the time we're going to book I know that it's just a matter of when can you call me when you're gonna book no I'm sorry I can't do that I don't want to do that because again it would be forcing you to make a decision I don't want to put any pressure on you so I'm not going to call you and ask you to make that decision so because saying I call you in an hour which is a distinct possibility we have three locations on long island we have one in florida there's a good chance I'll call you and tell you someone's booking you're going to think he's just trying to get it so I don't want to go through that's we won't call and bother you but like I said we'll always recommend you somewhere when we get booked up you know there'll be more money and not be a little bit more traditional but at least you know they'll do a good job I told you I wasn't putting any pressure on you but what did I do I threw the weight of the world on you did and I I'm ready to sign your ready to sign because you like me nothing to do with it so now at the end when that's all going on me like they start looking at each other all right just give me another minute I have to go I forgot I need to go get you a packet of information so you know about us I'll be right back I go back inside and I wait I give them time to bond and what I'll do is I'll play my games as I'm walking back into the room I'll always look back if I'm not sure I'm going to get it but I'll open the door so they think it hear me with one foot in one hand and a big yeah just set up a time for her to come in and sign the contract I know she wants the book right that dates closed out now right ok good so the whole month is closed out did I put pressure on you am I doing anything dirty or my being a sales person it's only dirty if you don't deliver what you promise shells and sorry it's kind of about manipulation a little bit isn't it you mean to tell me when you go buy a car and you get sucked into all those extra things you're not being manipulated when you go you go on vacation what about this are you not being manipulated now by the airlines are they not selling you online how you're being manipulated you sign and you try to book a seat but it's always funny that there's no seats available in a regular area on ly extra leg room seats on my wrong they're manipulating you you don't think there's a single seat left so you mean to tell me they're gonna give all those people those free extra leg room c I don't think so they're manipulating you they're manipulating every time you do something everybody sales is a manipulation I'm not going to be us you I'm gonna be honest with you it is as long as you don't lie as long as you're honest you're always doing right I always deliver on what I promise now I walk back into the room do you have any questions no okay are you did you say you're going to see someone else who you going to say don't worry I'm never going to say anything bad about them I tell them I'm not gonna say why do I want to know who they're going to say because the fact is photographers are very they're not very small people because I have a black book what do you think sam that black book every one of their prices and all of the information how do you think I got it the bride's give it to me because they give the bride's all this information I know their whole battle plan they're putting it all out I have twenty five prices from each photographers why would you do that I know howto work around you were going to see photographer acts he's excellent he does a wonderful job but what I want to tell you is the differences if I bad mouth the photographer what's going to happen nobody is going to be interested in me I say he's going to do a wonderful job but let me tell you the difference is first and foremost as you probably noticed when you looked at his collections they're much more traditional it's based on pages you're looking at it and if you want they charge extra for retouching they charge extra to do this they charge extra for this they shoot much more traditional they work by the hour we don't bob about and I go through all of it what do you think the guy sitting there saying well he told us everything we need to know about that guy by the way we're going to make it easier I haven't even used my last bullet yep bullet is incentive so all right ah and now I see that getting ready tow walk okay before you go I just want to ask you are there any incentives I can give you you know kind of like a ginsu knife commercial if I throw you a bone is there a chance you'll book I'm asking them can I put pressure on you pretty please if they say yes how many of them do you think book all of them they're looking for a bone is my bone to take money off no because I'm charging you one price and I'm charging you another another another is that fair but I will give you a gift he's the gift if you book today this minute no pressure on you whatsoever I'm going to give you one hundred and fifty dollars gift certificate towards extra pictures and frames after the wedding if you charge one hundred fifty I'll give if you charge thirty dollars for an eight by a portrait what in essence he giving five eight by a portrait on let me ask you something how much was that question ten dollars would you be in spite of someone was going to give you five extra portrait's to put on your album I think you would pay what about if I say don't did you notice how in the collection I gave you a twenty by twenty frame well the fact is I'm twenty by twenty image I'm sure you know you're gonna have to get that frame twelve obviously we offer custom framing and if you know custom framing is kind of expensive so that twenty by twenty frames on the wall which is normally five hundred fifty dollars and cost me one hundred from bay photo I'm going toe I'm gonna give you one hundred fifty dollars gift certificate for so now that frame is on ly going to cost you three hundred fifty dollars all because you made a decision to brooke who you really want today at this minute rather than walk out probably lose out when we're all booked up understanding incentive okay I'm going to give you a minute the bond I'll be back walk out that's it I put it all out there all out there I'm giving him one hundred fifty dollars free money that cost me roughly ten dollars if they use it for the frame of course me a little bit maur obviously okay questions doc did you see how many people walk out what percentage of people walk out on our studio as a studio we saw about eighty six percent me personally I'm over ninety seven out of that ninety seven how many of them leave and come back on mine on you on me personally I gotta be honest zero people walk out I ninety nine percent of mine is gonna book on the spot again it's about manipulating time my girls in the office have a little bit more walk out and come back but they don't apply the pressure that I do like my top sales person is my sister and learn my dear and I saw something special in her because nadira is like four foot nine and to be honest with you she's strong personality I thought when working with her I said people gonna look at her and think she's small I could take advantage of her but she's a shock she closes and she goes in and now's it every time I have different types of sales people need ears the little napoleon shock my little indian shock getting in there and doing it then I have mary who's hi sweetie hi honey all beautiful and she soft and people lover but does she close hard no then I have chen who's kind of happy and bubbly but she khun now in when she's got tio that I have john who's my general manager joins very dry and he's going to hit a different spots and you're going to connect with him on a certain level they liked the fact that they're talking to the general manager you know so you have all those little things and you have to learn how to use what you have like nadira I would say that nadira used the fact that you do it I just had a sweet sixteen use that to your advantage mary used the fact that your daughter is planning for a wedding chain you got married three years ago we did your wedding used that now I don't use my wedding I used the fact that I threw a surprise fortieth birthday party for my wife last year on we did off fourteen we did a thirteen year ballerina and I talked about planning all of that I knew what they went through in god it's so difficult and all those little things you put yourself in a place of where they are and you're going to be a better sales person now we got the wedding sold I'm going to be the biggest tip how do you get people to buy extra pitches after the wedding it's very difficult isn't it you have trouble doing it now are you putting your pictures online we spoke about this senate way if you're putting pictures online are they buying a picture of the person of table seventeen what should you be taken set up a background set up an area that you want to take a picture of every single guest every family put out a little engagement card that says on behalf of writing group this isn't a business plan by the way that book that that little packet we haven't started the workshop and I want you guys you're getting if you on behalf of the party room we'd love for you to come up and take a picture of you your family anybody who's near and dear to you and with that we're going to place that online tonight at all website www packing photographer dot com your event named bob passwords block they go to image quicks they see the image they see a frame for it they buy it on not works they buy it just like a cruise now what about when a client comes back after the weddings the longer the pictures stay out there do you make more or less money less money that's that's nice so how do I get the guy who goes home looks at the pitches that night of the wedding how do I get him toe by the pitches that night well how long do you typically leave images online they stay up for what sixty days I want you to look at your stats I guarantee you nobody is looking at the images sixty days afterwards they're looking at it within the first two weeks so here's what you d'oh in my case I only put the images online for two weeks unless they ask me to do longer and then I'll weep repost he is what I do if you buy these pictures within seven days of the wedding I'm sorry not some days three days of the wedding we're going to give you whatever portrait you wanted half price will that make that man get up off the couch was looking at on his laptop and go over there and get his wallet he will write because he doesn't want to lose that everybody loves a sale everybody loves the sale we'll give you half price will give you discount that twenty percent off your shipping you get them to go up if he doesn't buy a frame do I call them course I called them because it's much harder to reject me isn't it over the phone that it is rejecting a computer what about when people pick up their purpose if you let the proofs stay out for a month two weeks three weeks what's the problem are they gonna buy extra why they're not excited and what else happened while their wedding money where did it go credit card bills and other things here's way it works when you come in to pick up your proofs if you order your pictures within three days of picking up your proofs all your albums anything extra you want is half price now what do we do the girls make an appointment for two days from the day they picked up the proofs can they pick out all the images for their albums and their parent albums and all that stuff within two days no so what are they dough they buy they buy do you do a pre sell on extra items in other words right now you have thirty pitches in your album if we're charging fifty dollars extra for each picture that would be fifteen fifteen hundred dollars when picking up the proofs what we're going to do is if you buy now the thirty extra pictures were going to give you for eight hundred dollars and we're going to give you five more six more pitches in each parent alan that's a total value of eighteen hundred dollars but you could pay eight hundred dollars when picking up your proofs and get it now that's a pretty good incentive right there why is eight hundred dollars my magic number two you know how much do you think it'll support cost me to produce that whole collection about eight hundred dollars so I get enough money from the after order to pay for the whole upfront order now that makes most of that last job what profit that's the way you operate sells you give them incentives give them incentives more importantly give them an incentive to talk about you do you know why I have so many reviews on all of these sites why do you think that is I give them an incentive I want them to talk about me good or bad thank god they're all good we send out an email every six months toe all of our kinds in our database it's automated and it says on behalf of packing photographer I want to thank you so much we would never be where we are without you we would love for you to give us a review your friend us we're like us and whatever it may be on these pages baba baba and if you do we're happy to give you two a buy a portrait at no charge well you could have a free baby setting if you're having a new boy I'm setting up in reminding him not to do other types of photography I'm setting up the eight by eight because if they come in and I get the two free by yates what they need for them frame's frames put a good huh give incentive to sell now you're saying wait a minute I don't want to give up half my money well if you really only want thirty dollars for an eight by eight what should you be selling it for sixty because you know most from going to buy it at half price if they come back after the three days do you still charge starting not without a really good excuse because that would be dishonest you give him a day or two latitudes I can't get back that quick this week all right I'll extend your two next week but if you don't come back at that point unfortunate can't do how many people do you think pre by all the time the same thing with sales the best thing we ever did was anna moda because we put all of the images of photographers each pick about sixty of their favorite images from every wedding event or portrait session and we make it an emoto we put it online so they could post it on their facebook page and everything what is that for us advertise an emotive course two hundred fifty dollars a year for unlimited sliders shows and unlimited downloads if that's one year twelve months if you use my name doug gordon you're going to get another three months free now on top of that so two hundred fifty dollars get unlimited structures they all piece posted facebook advertising how many people do you think corporate all I'd like to get a dvd of that do you know how much we charged for that dvd four hundred dollars you want me to make you sick way sold four hundred thirty an emoto slide shows this year that's a lot of money isn't it because they think we're all making them by hand are we making them by hand genius software everything is about finding ways to make money when I tell you this certain aspects of my business that are beyond important obviously my lab an album company and bay photo huge obviously pilot imaging who does my post production and things that we can't do in our album these aren't huge obviously image quick who's responsible for almost forty percent of my revenue huge and an emoto huge who choose huge huge those are all income grab its but I used them to my advantage you can't put photos online and hope that something happens you gotta put the right photos oh boy that's pretty amazing okay questions keep porn in so m j kaski seven says when you're not when you don't have a busier studio is their way to put pressure on a client without saying we're busy and you're date might be booked or might book and then simply dashi said how can we create the sense of urgency to book if we did not do one thousand weddings per year like you do you just say that you're busy you don't have to give out numbers when someone how do I avoid the question of doug have you ever been to this hole because if I know that they're coming from this hole before when they come in I talk about the hall and say oh my goodness she getting married here with a beautiful hole I saw it as I love the beautiful staircase on the banquet manages they're so nice how do I know the banquet manages and know about the whole because when I found out I had the appointment I called up and spoke to the banquet manages to learn about the whole and I avoided the question if I was ever there so the question that I ask this if I'm not so busy how do I pretend I'm busy you just say you're busy be like we have a lot of people enquiring about dates you have to work it do you think I always have people running inside and outside my studio no you could make ideo but I'm locked in with them but I can make it seem important you could explain to them you can call up and say before an appointment this is how you put urgency on a client you're going to meet them at some coffee shop you call them before you go just like hi this is dog I'm calling from packing photographer I know we have a one o'clock meeting scheduled I just want to make sure you're going to be there on time it's really really important because my day is full of appointments from other clients and I'm kind of a time freak so I want to make sure that I'm able to meet with you because I don't want to be lied for any appointments I put too many value too much value on that and I want to be able to give you the proper time and not have to rush out to my other appointment unfortunately way have a lot of sails consultations today so I want to be able to give you proper time did I not just drop pressure on exactly what it did good so we do we do have a lot of folks in our audience who are just hurting their business is you don't have a studio so with regard to the sales uh consultations and such what would you recommend specifically that cf garcia says how would you pitch how would you how would this pitch work for a studio that does not have other people there and his fabulous ian in mexico so that was when you said I need to go out and come back and then alexander manning what if we don't have a studio for meeting clients and david again what about someone like me when I'm just starting it's ten times easier if you don't have photographers because what do you sell it so you I'd love it if I could just sell myself it will be a lot easier what on it if I just had to sell may now I have to sell what the unknown if you don't have a studio if you can build a studio in your house and make an area I'd always recommend it as much as it's going to put in inconvenience on your personal life it's going to show them that you have a tangible space if not you can look to go and find a studio ah small little office space for two hours we decided to open up in new york city we went into an eight by ten office of course the eighteen hundred dollars a month and that's where we met clients it was nothing like what we had back in long island so the fact is very very simple you work it the way you need to if you get a client if you want to meet with him at a local coffee shop have the portfolio built have an album have a slide show I have all these different things carry on a conversation but to me working in these environments is kind of a distraction to the actual client I want to focus on getting them somewhere that's my home turf comfortable and that I have everything I need ladies from lexie lou photography when someone comes recommended by a former client who also knows how much they paid do you have any suggestions how to personalize that sale price for the new couple that's great they know what they paid their coming in that should be a layup this should be very easy why raise the price if they're coming in five years later than obviously if the raised the price but if this is a past client coming in you want to work with them remind him that you know what they paid look that information up before so you can show them how honest you are oh you came in from lisa that she talked to you at all about a collection yes she did okay so is that what you were kind of interested in great let me go over it and work from there that's how you kind of gets away you're going is build it in and let her know that you want to do the same thing for her elisa why did she come to you because she loved what what you did for a friend so why change it I'm sorry did they catch you off guard ladies no never so we have about fifteen minutes so brick do you want to keep taking human way had to go to two fifteen to fifteen they're going to to fifteen right man oh two thirty so finish so we can do q and a or you can I'm sorry I was fun time so what questions do you guys have here up and I was rushing because I thought I was a two fifteen I'm sorry no problem very simply yesterday do you give them like something printed that has their packaging what ideo is I write I have an estimate sheet and on the estimate sheet I'm going in and I'm writing all the details of what they're giving I'm always giving explicit explicit details trying to show everything now let's talk about creating a collection how do you create collections have you ever sold your biggest collection that's good if you sell your biggest collection that means it's not big enough you wanted excuse me that means you want to keep growing it and making a bigger now one of the things one of the reasons I really got involved with a photo was because they had all these unique packaging ideas and unique products when you walk into my studio do you think I just have regular wall portrait's framed or anything no I have all unique portrait's framed I have different shapes and sizes whether it be gallery wraps whether it be metal prince whether it be canvas whether it be little cut up ones like that are chipped in sizes because the more oddities you have the more you khun cell correct that's the idea so keep it simple now we talked about weddings what about selling portrait as I told you we shoot and we add it on the spot now here's what people dio do you sell packages or do you sell individual portrait you could sell packages if you want what collections as I would call them but here's the key that makes an important if they're getting one eight by eight to five by fives and eight square wallets should they be completely different images but should they all be the same images saying why they have to buy more they have to buy mohr you want himto by maur the idea is you want to keep increasing yourselves you want to give yourself sales opportunities by increasing it and you want to use the clients you have to keep marketing for you he is one of the biggest things that's always freaked me out setting by accident you order two extra prints what do you deal with it what do you do with those two extra prints do you give them to the client what do you sell them try to sell them I would say no you're gonna give him give him isn't it better to give a little bit more than you should have been a little bit less than you expected you want me to give you a closing line for when a client tells you that it's too much I'll give you a cause reminder to him knock you off your seat isn't it better to spend a little bit more than you wanted then a little bit less than you should have isn't it better to spend a little bit more than you want it then it would a bit less than you should have that makes a world of difference right now doesn't it that's a quote that you should deliver every time that a client says that you have to read clients you gotta work with the you have to be ableto market within your client's I know blogging and all that stuffs tied and the fact it tiring fact is my studio doesn't do a good job of it because we're so busy with other stuff I probably should hire a social media director the fact is I need to keep putting images up I get my clients talking about me by posting their images on facebook doing slide shows and different things now what about selling video I barely got to talk to you about video how many of you were offering video videos a great thing to offer do you know why unfortunately videographers aren't doing so well as a standalone company and mawr because most people would rather go to a photographer and get it all in one place there's many different things that you could do in terms of video now people ask me all the time what about fusion do you think I like fusion I don't like fusion on a wedding why don't I like it warren I want to sell it subway I'm going to make more money but what about doing my portrait sessions when we do fusion when we have another camera on each side getting different video on we could plug that into our animal slide show how do you think that looks during a portrait session what is it up the sails off because you see the child interacting interacting with me and interacting with the family video is a great thing to have on board if you could find a video company that you can partner with and get them the whole sell the video to you then you could sell the video and make a profit if not find a video company that you can partner with and work together and try to sell it as a collection find a deejay toe work with so you can make a collection settle in and really lock in on connecting with other networking people like you did with schools the same thing applies for connecting inside of the photography community with other wedding vendors but more importantly you need to look outside the box of what you're regularly doing sales week choirs patient's sales requires reading people sales requires connecting with people sales requires not being afraid to ask what's the worst that can happen they say no but then you go back again I told the story of my son don't be afraid to ask be afraid not to ask you have to want to close I remember when you let them walk out there's a good chance they're going to go to someone just like me who's waiting to get them saying as a photographer you can't sell it it's just not in you is that a bad thing no but you need to recognize that you can't what do you need to hire our sales person you pay them minimum li is most sales person people make and then you pay them good commission they get paid when what when they sell that's how you make money you keeping it very very simple you're keeping it easy and you're keeping it nice and fluid you have to be able to close the sale gotta be about close it alright I think we can go to break it's not a good place to end so all right I think so too so we're gonna take a fifteen minute break everyone please tell us what we're gonna do when we were coming back unfortunately all great things must come to an end so we're going to get some re capping we're going to talk a little bit we're going to try to get some inspiration we got some more good prices I think to give away and different things like that so we're really going to try toe put this whole three day experience in a nutshell and answer questions on every aspect which I know you have to be feeling a little bit so we're going to go toe all of that and we're going to try to get you motivated before you go to go way beyond this when you go home okay well I would just like to read a few quotes okay this is fun I don't know it's fun for you but it's fun for me okay okay uh papa doh poulos said this guy is simply the best inspirational speaker that ever came to critical eye in my house I can hear a pin drop that's just cool it's cool there hanging on your every word and you have a lot of acknowledge to drop so I appreciate that exchange snap turtle says thank you done for making me realize it is time to get serious about the business side of my photography which is also equal are you enjoying this I am I I'll tell you one thing that I didn't say I'm sorry I know we're going to break and run late every other time so what does it matter at this point I need to ask you a question that I think really k in your day in your life how much time do you take for the photography portion how much time do you take for the technology portion how much time do you take for the business portion if I had the bet at least eighty percent of it is technology photography and creativity and maybe twenty percent if you're lucky is business you know that don't work that formula doesn't work you can't make money if you don't put the effort out there as much as you love doing this if you have to work that hard at something what's the point if you're not gonna have a reward now is your reward I asked you in the beginning do you do this for the right reasons and we're gonna talk about it later on what are your right reasons